Heart of Shadow Hearts
by karatekid917
Summary: Sarah's relationships are categorised according to how hard she can hit a person. Paul is a caveman with a brick wall, slowly closing in on her feminist streak. The two will collide and this is one imprint not taking things lying down, unless maybe it's with Paul?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: An Introduction to Baring Arms, or a Leg**

**Sarah's POV**

A stern glance from behind a set of grimy glasses pertly sitting a top an equally grimy nose.

A disgruntled clearing of the throat and shuffling of unnecessary papers.

Now for the lecture…

"Miss Jennings for second time, are you listening to me? If that smirk gracing your face means that you think it is acceptable to be seated in my office for the…third time this semester, you need to head back to kindergarten," Mr Roberts was pro at heaving guilt upon whimpering students for even the smallest of crimes committed.

To bad I wasn't whimpering. Nor was I particularly concerned with his overzealous attitude towards self-defence.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the second amendment give me the right to bear arms since 1791?

Okay, so it wasn't an arm, it was a leg, with solid footwear on the foot.

Clearly the self-righteous prick didn't feel the same way about girls standing up for themselves as I did. I am a woman of the twenty-first century, and as such, absolutely shall not tolerate any unwarranted touching of my body. Given freely, sure, but in response to rejection? Absolutely not. Not only were Tom Swanson's actions undesirable to a woman of my intellect, but they were also downright un-gentlemanly. If he couldn't accept my refusal to, as he put it, 'have a shag in the courtyard out back', he shouldn't have asked in the first place. Nor should he have reacted by manhandling me. Roberts had been trying to convince me for the last twenty-five minutes that my reaction was over the top. Suggestions to combat further experiences such as this ranged from not wearing such revealing clothing, to projecting a friendlier and less intimidating type of persona, to my favourite- taking anger management classes. Basically, any attempt I had made to defend myself was rejected and the issue of Swanson's sexual harassment had been a non-issue.

I still maintain that he deserved every cracked rib I gave him.

"JENNINGS!" Snapped out of my reverie, I swung my gaze lazily back to Mr Roberts, whose face was now nearing a spectacular shade of fuchsia, a questioning look in my eye.

"Have you not listened to a word I've said? That's it. I've had it with this nonchalant arrogance of yours. Go home. I'll be calling your mother to come and pick you and then you can explain to her why you'll be thinking over your thoughtless actions at home for the next three days. You're suspended."

Not even bothering with a vicious glare, I huffed and grabbing my bag from the nasty green carpet of his office, gave Roberts the finger as I stomped towards the door. Gasps of fury followed in my wake, as did a few choice words entirely inappropriate to be coming from the mouth of a teacher, but I took no notice and swept out towards the reception desk and plunked myself down into one of the garish chairs that usually seated guests of the school.

Man, mom was going to crack it. Any punishment she doled out would be reflective of how much sleep she had gotten in the past forty eight hours- which with the two night shifts she had just done, wouldn't be much. I whipped out my phone and scrolled through my contact list, searching for the last group text I had sent to Emma and Kim.

Kim, Emma and I had been best friends for ages. I don't have a nostalgic trip down memory lane without one or both of them being a key feature. We were all so different, yet meshed together like three crazed, melodramatic, loving sisters. Emma spent the majority of her time between mine and Kim's houses- her childhood wasn't fantastic, and it's even worse now that she actually stands up for herself. Our weekends were generally spent in each other's company doing whatever we could fid to interest us in this tiny, godforsaken town that was barely a dot on the map of Washington state. Our misadventures were often fuelled by crazy ideas of Emma's, or mine, kept PG rated by the more sensible and responsible Kim- who incidentally would also flip when she finds out that I'm suspended.

_To: Emma; Kim_

_So the bastard suspended me- three days- K can I claim sanctuary at yours when my mom tears me a new one for the latest incident? Xo_

I had barely finished sending the message when my phone vibrated in my hand, so I looked down at caller ID, swiped a quick glance at the receptionist behind her desk, casually shovelling Reece's Pieces into her mouth, and picked up the call.

"Kimmy! What a lovely surprise- you know I was just about to call you-" Kim was super attentive to the slightest of problems and tried to solve them as quickly and efficiently as possible. She was such a sensible girl- why I think my mother allowed me to spend a ridiculous amount of time with my friends was because whilst Emma was the ultimate recalcitrant bad girl, Kim had a good influence over the both of us, often stopping us to give thought to morality- which was quite often disregarded by Emma.

"Sarah, don't you even give me that! I can't believe you let yourself get suspended, is it going on your permanent record? What did your mom say?" Kim got out in all one breath.

"Well, I-" I tried to start, but when Kim really goes for it, she goes for it.

"Your mom's going to flip sideways and up the chimney! And of course it'll go on your record- I wonder if you can do extra credit or voluntary work to get it removed maybe?" Well now really, volunteering my precious time? I don't think so. It's just like Kim to suggest something so…helpful.

"Kim, will you just let me-" She was so frustrating! Put her in front of a complete stranger and she'd rather hang herself than speak out loud, but with me? I couldn't get the girl to shut it!

"And of course you're more than welcome to stay at my place, but I really think we should work on you not getting into these situations in the first place, I mean, really Sass, I know he touched you, but you were a little more forceful than necessary." Okay, Kim knows me better than this.

"KIM. You know for a fact that Tom Swanson is a demonic dirtbag and basically a chronic pest to every girl in the school. I could not in good conscience let him go on thinking it was acceptable to touch a girl without permission. Force was justified, and if it discontinues a sexual predator's bad behaviour before he claims a victim, well suspend me, I don't give a shit."

"Sass, I hardly think he's a sexual predator-" I stopped Kim's kind and well-meaning heart in it's tracks.

"Kim, do you know that one out of one hundred kids are psychopaths? I don't know what the numbers are for sexual predators, but I'm sure it's way more prevalent! He could be later in life, and anyway, he's just a tool," which was entirely correct in my judgment. Kim's kind-heartedness was well known, but in this case, misplaced. He had no right to grab me, and he'll think twice next time- there might not even be next time thanks to me!

Kim sighed, long and mournfully at my rebellious antics, "Right. I still think five ribs are excessive, but you're right. He's a tool. Anyway, I've got to dash- I just had a quick moment in-between classes- I'll head over to yours after I finish piano. Don't do anything stupid while I'm not there."

I chuckled at Kim's mom-like warning. Shaking my head, with a hand slapped over my eyes, I replied, "Yes mom. See you then," and hung up. Not two minutes later, after watching the receptionist shovel a further two packets of confectionary into her mouth, my phone vibrated, signalling Emma's response.

_From: Emma_

_Roberts is a whiny bitch. Nxt time tell me whn yr gonna gt suspended n I'll stay home wit u. Xo_

I rolled my eyes. If anyone was more likely to get suspended than me, it would be the prematurely cynical, chronically sarcastic rebellious other best friend of mine. Emma Black was a strange entity. Treated like crap in her own home, Emma's mom died when she was pretty young. She and her sister had been driving up to Port Angeles when a drunk driver had ploughed into their car, leaving them both instantly dead. Emma never like to talk about her, and often found it difficult to be with her mom's family. Lately she had grown kind of close though, with her mom's sister's son, Jacob. Jacob and his father Billy had both been devastated at their loss, but had managed to keep it together for each other. Emma's dad was the antithesis of 'together'. After the accident, he drank himself into a deep depression that had lasted these past eleven years, inconsolable at the loss of his wife and uncaring about the daughter she had left. He would barely look at Emma- the likeness between mother and daughter was astounding and I think it hurt for him to see Emma with such a zest for life.

Despite the tough times she had faced, Emma was, although the most rebellious, the most trustworthy and loyal friend you could have. The three of us were true to each other and that's basically all that mattered.

"Miss Jennings, you're mother is on her way," Roberts gleefully interrupted my musings.

"Oh shit," I whimpered.

**Paul's POV**

"…And then she like, swung her foot in this really cool karate kid move, and totally got him!"

"Uh-huh," I replied with a large dose of disinterest, but she just kept harping on.

"Yep. And then she was yelling at him, and he was practically crying on the floor- big girl. And then there were teachers everywhere- and Mr Roberts came and yelled at her, but she was totally cool about it and just walked off," the high pitched voice nagged on and on as I was rummaging around the kitchen cupboards for something decent to eat. Scratch that. _Anything_ to eat. I was starving, my mid afternoon snack of three sandwiches at Emily's notwithstanding.

"Mmm. Sounds cool. Do we have any cereal, squirt?"

"Paul! Were you even listening to me? She's amazing!_ And_ I heard she broke five of his ribs!" Jessica squealed in delight, and admitting it only to myself, thought maybe Jess had more brains than I gave her credit for- if my kid sister was out admiring and hero-worshipping girls who packed a punch to a guy who touched them without their permission, not idiotic anorexia ridden figures that were on a lot of those trashy magazines she read. I wasn't complaining.

In actual fact, I had to admit that I thought it was pretty brave of a girl to stand up for herself- and why shouldn't she? No guy had any right to take unwanted liberties- my mom brought me up to be a gentleman, which meant respecting a lady. I may be hot headed and have smacked a fair few guys around, but I would never touch a girl.

Well, except maybe Leah.

Man, I got that Leah was all bitter and twisted about having to stomach the sight of Emily and Sam planning their wedding at the moment, but for the sake of the pack mentality, could she not keep her snarky thoughts to herself when we were in human form? We already had to endure it when we shifted every night for patrol.

After the Cullen's last 'visitors', and I shudder to use the word as it sounds way too civilized for the undead bastards, Sam had us running patrols in pairs round the clock- meaning that those of us in school were exhausted, and the one's lucky enough to be out of that hell-hole, were in a whole new purgatory.

I barely had time to scratch myself, let alone keep up with a girlfriend- which is a whole new story.

As a shape shifter, I couldn't avoid the thoughts of my pack mates. The imprinting numbers ran higher than any of the tribal elders ever thought possible. Sam was the first with Emily, then Jacob and his 'thing', Embry, Quil and Seth had all followed. While there were a few others who hadn't imprinted, Jared and I were the eldest members without imprints. If any of my brothers heard me say this, they'd probably beat me up, but with the constant thoughts of imprints, I had started to feel like I was missing out.

Jared and I were the eldest pack members to not have imprinted. The guys that had imprinted had gone all mushy in about two seconds, and stayed that way, but Jared and I had no one to come home to, and weren't allowed to interact with humans, which made for a celibate and ridiculously monotonous existence.

I contented myself with running extra patrols and watching Jess after school. She didn't know exactly what I did every night after she went to bed, but she had an inkling that something wasn't right- hey, she shares my intelligent genes after all.

Feeling myself beginning to get frustrated with the lack of edible products in our house, I swiped my keys off the table, haphazardly shoved my wallet in the back pocket of my shorts and turned the television off.

"Hey! I was watching that!" Jess squealed in indignant outrage, as I slapped her homework book shut and seized her by the waist.

Shrill shrieks rang loud from Jess as I hefted her over my shoulder and strode out the front door, pausing only to turn briefly and lock the front door.

"Hey! Shrek, I have homework to do," she tried to reason. I dumped her into the front seat of my truck.

"Mmmhmm well I'm hungry and if we don't get to the shops soon I might just sit I there and eat your book. How are you going to explain that one to your teachers?"

Jess pulled a face, "I'll just tell them my DOG ate my homework," poking her tongue out, which I proceeded to grab between two fingers, holding the slimy organ as she shrieked and squalled inelegantly.

Bending down and reaching across for her seatbelt, I let go of her tongue. Chuckling knowingly, I replied, "You're not far off the mark," and clicked the belt in, jogged round to my side and headed straight for the supermarket, my stomach growling the whole way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Get Out of Jail (Not Free) Card **

**Sarah's POV**

"But seriously, why? Why, why, why, why?"

"Mom, you know why, why, why," I heaved a sigh and started again. "I told him that _no, I did not want to have a shag in the back courtyard_. He did not take this well and decided to grab my arm as I turned away, I asked him to remove his hand. Did he remove his hand? No. No he did not, so I kicked him," I glared back at the appalled face my mother pulled, willing her to see that I was in the right.

"You cannot call him a sexual predator, Sarah. Not only is it slander because he never actually touched you, _apart_ from the grab of your arm, but it's gotten you kicked out of school for three days! When I took you to martial arts classes, I did not expect to come home with a violent daughter _this _close to being charged with assault and battery!" I felt a little guiltier as mom sat down on the couch, exhausted, and ran her hands over her face in the ultimate despairing motion.

But only a little.

I was still indisputably sure that I had taken the correct course of action, only with mom having had so little sleep, was not prepared to argue it with her. She always did so much for me, and I _had_ just gotten suspended for three days, which meant me interrupting her already crappy sleep patterns.

Instead, I dropped my schoolbag to the floor with a muted _thump_ and sat down next to her on the low-slung couch.

"I'm sorry for getting suspended. You wanna' go back to bed while I cook us some dinner?" I sighed, inwardly hoping she'd say yes so that I wouldn't have to endure her ill-placed reprimands any longer.

Deep chocolate brown eyes peered at me through slender and ringless fingers, "Yes. _But do not _think that this gets you off the hook. I'm just too exhausted to deal with this right now- double fatality MVA last night. Sarah, promise you'll never get into a car with someone who has been drinking, and I'll leave you alone for now."

I winced, know that having to pick up and tolerate a delinquent child like myself would only have added to the mental toll of dealing with two probably gruesome deaths in the level one trauma centre she worked at. "I promise, mom, don't worry."

And with that, she heaved herself upwards off the couch and trudged the weary steps to her bedroom. I busied myself with searching through the kitchen cupboards for something decent to make us for dinner, coming up with steak and salad, and got to work.

In the midst of freshly chopped vegetables and searing steak, I managed to text Emma and Kim- telling them not to come over after all, knowing that when mum was fully awake and functional, the wrath may be worse. Both were fine with it, and I promised to catch up with them at some point when mom wasn't at home waiting to take me for a further journey down Guilt Avenue.

…..

Three days.

Seventy-two hours.

Four thousand, three hundred and twenty minutes.

Boredom and guilt my only company in hell.

Mom nagged at every chance possible, thus me being happy to vacuum for the first ever time in my life- drowned out the sound of her guilt inducing comments. She set me some extra chores seeing as though I suddenly seemed to have so much spare time on my hands. I didn't mind though. I was happy to have something to do, even if it was cleaning the entire house from top to bottom. I never before realized how boring being home alone could be. I was itching to get back to the daily grind. Absolutely no more fighting for me.

_Promise._

Driving Miss Daisy, AKA Kim, ground to a halt in my driveway, and I bounded down the creaky stairs of the veranda and wrenched open the car door.

I slipped in and gave Kim a quick hug.

"Hi," I grinned, strapping myself in quickly, and bracing myself for the onslaught.

"Sass, don't you even give me that. I've had to spend three whole days in just Emma's company! Don't you ever get suspended again- I mean, you do know it goes on your record right?" Kim gushed. She and Emma, although best friends for years, always managed to grate on each others nerves, Kim basically a goodie two shoes, and Emma being the profanity laden bad girl. I was the happy medium usually content to do well in school and ditch only occasionally.

As Kim regaled me on what precious little I had missed at the tiny tribal school we attended, I stared out the window, watching the overwhelming rush of green pass us, as the civilized merged into wildlife. Kim and I had always joked that we 'took the road less travelled by', always choosing to take the disused old highway that ran right along the edge of the forest. It was a tradition dating back as far as we could remember. When we used to have playdates as kids, Kim's older brother Michael would always drive us to and fro along this road, until eventually Kim got her license and started to chauffeur me around. He only started using it because we thought it was the most magical place in the entire world. Neither of us was ever allowed to venture further than a few supervised yards into the dense shrubbery, but the few moments we were there under the lush green canopy, we would dream up the greatest stories and act them out, pretending to be all sorts of magical creatures from deep within the woods.

Over the years, to discourage us from entering any further and getting ridiculously lost, the adults would tell us the spirits of the ancestor warriors lay deep within, stuck in a limbo world, neither able to move on, or come back because of their supernatural state. I bit back a bubble of laughter as I remembered those ludicrous stories told to us in a bid to keep us safe, when abruptly, a movement of a shadow caught my eye.

"Stop!" I screeched unexpectedly, and startled Kim into swerving the car slightly until she braked to a hasty halt on the side of our road.

Unbuckling my belt as quick as I could with quivering fingers, I tugged the door open and sprang out, my eyes scanning for any further movement.

"Sarah! What the hell is your-"

I was focused, my eyes seeking out for the same shadow we had passed not a minute prior. I got about five yards when my eyes saw it. If I had blinked at the wrong time, I would've missed it, just a seemingly unobtrusive dark shadow on the border of the forest, also darkened from the dense foliage, but it was there and my breath stalled.

A pair of golden eyes were staring straight at mine.

….

"SARAH!"

The riveting golden eyes swivelled, searching out the source of the noise, and then so quick I almost missed it, they were gone. Out of sight for my puny human eyes.

My heart skipped a beat as a hand grabbed my forearm from behind.

"Sass, do you have _any _idea how dangerous that was? I could've ploughed straight into a tree! What the hell?" Kim was shaken and irate, but seemingly hadn't been as entranced as I had by the eyes that had been bearing into mine.

"Kim, you cannot seriously tell me you didn't see that shadow just beyond the trees there-" I started in disbelief.

"See? SEE?" Kim practically screeched, "I'm supposed to be driving- I'm not looking at the forest or the pretty trees or the cute woodland creatures, I'm looking at the freaking road Sass! Get in the car," Kim slightly yelled exasperatedly.

I sighed, glancing once more into the same spot where those golden eyes had been, then looked back at Kim, slightly shaking and heading back to the driver's side. Slowly, with several looks over my shoulder, I trudged back to the car.

"God, I'm sorry Kim, I just thought I saw some huge shadow in the woods. Promise I won't do that to you again," I relayed, sincere apology lacing my words.

Kim sighed a shaken breath, "Sure. Next time you wanna go sightseeing in the forest though, let me know in advance," She smiled, in spite of her slightly shaken state, "It was probably a bear or something- isn't it hunting season? I know we don't get them very often, but you never know… I'll ask dad."

"Sure," I replied, not convinced. The shadow had been way too enormous for a bear shape, but I was basing this fact off only what I saw- no hard evidence, so I let it go.

But the golden eyes remained in the back of my mind for the rest of the trip to school.

**Paul's POV **

God, this life was monotonous.

At least the freedom of four paws could lead to great distances and speeds.

Pushing myself a little further than before, four paws pounded silently, trampling small bushes and shrubs as I made the second round of the area this shift.

La Push was a tiny reservation, not leaving all that much land to cover when we were on patrols, however, whilst the Cullen's were still living on the other side of Forks, we couldn't take any chances. Not like they were leaving anytime soon, thanks to Jake and his…'imprint'- Renesmee.

I still had my reservations about Jake's imprint- I had yet to experience it first hand myself, so I was still able to doubt the purest form of love, but it was slowly fading as Nessie spent more and more time around us as we felt more comfortable with her. I still couldn't get used to the fact that she fed partly off animal blood, but the love was there, nobody cold deny that.

About a mile from my left flank, the sound of a car hitting the gravel of the old highway was picked up by my oversensitive ears, and I naturally made the sharp turn to speed towards it. People rarely used that stretch of road anymore, as the new one was built heading straight through the middle of town was much more efficient and more regularly maintained. The scenic route was only used by the occasional local, and wayward tourist, the disrepair of the road making it slightly dangerous if unknown.

Out of my periphery, now almost at the edge of the forest, I saw the bright red hatchback driving steadily down the road. Knowing that I had seen it around town before, I slowed to a more natural run.

As I slowed, the car passed me, and I noted with slight alarm that there was a human faced towards me, staring through the tinted glass, and although I couldn't make out facial features, knew by the straightening posture and sudden hand gesture that it had seen me.

_Aw, shit_. Sam's gonna throttle me.

I pulled up to a halt, narrowly missing an old oak, and tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible as I noted that car had screeched to a stop.

A figure alighted from the car and started to jog straight for me. Panicking slightly, I tried to move my clumsy paws backwards in an attempt to keep myself hidden, but my heart started when I trod on an unseen twig, cracking immediately underneath me.

I forced out a silent breath, and became a statue.

It was a girl, that much I could tell, and she was getting closer. My breathing quickened- this was _so_ not okay- Sam might actually rip my throat out.

She peered into the woods, seemingly missing my shadow, until abruptly, her gaze swiveled directly onto mine. She was gorgeous- long, mahogany brown hair, flowing freely in the wind coming off the coast, her blue-grey eyes squinted adorably, as if willing me to come to her, her mouth slightly askew as her pursed lips tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

My heart had stopped, and all that kept me from falling to the ground in shock, was my mind willing me not to scare the beauty. There was another human in the background, another girl of the same age and stature, who suddenly screeched something, but regaining control of my senses and knowing I couldn't be caught like _this_, I hastily turned on two paws and fled.

Only realizing as I heard the car restart, and I was a good five miles away, that I was depressed at the thought of not knowing her name.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Sarah Jennings Fan Club, Population: One **

Golden eyes still at the forefront of my mind, my eyes scanned the school parking lot in hopes of spying Emma, who most often caught a ride with her cousin Jacob, who was in the year below us. I didn't manage to spot her, but the corner of my periphery alerted me to a large crowd having gathered just inside the school gates of the other entrance. Pushing open the car door, I twisted around as I got out, hoping to catch a glimpse of the protagonists of aforementioned large crowd. It wasn't unusual to see a punch up started by two testosterone fuelled teenage guys, but something was more unusual about this gathering.

It seemed the main aggressor was a girl.

With absolutely nothing against a girl who wasn't backing down from a fight, I glanced over at Kim, who nodded in agreement, and we both headed over to the group to check out the disturbance, Kim locking the car over her shoulder as we went.

I was doubly surprised to see that the girl was throwing punches aimed at a guy. The crowd was growing around them, yet nobody seemed to want to do anything in the way of stopping this guy from being pummelled.

The tiny girl managed to clock on straight at his right cheek, and as she cocked her fist back to land another one, I stepped forward and grabbed a hold of her fist, jerking her slightly backwards and surprising the hell out of her. She turned around, ready to mouth off at whoever had decided to interrupt her golden moment, but stalled when she glanced up at my face properly.

With her hand still firmly in my grasp, I looked down at her, "Trust me, you do not want to finish that," and watching the fighting spark fade from her eyes, slowly let her wrist slip from my hold.

She floundered for a minute, looking torn as to whether she really wanted to finish the job, or take on my hard earned wisdom.

Suddenly, to my utter dismay, I then heard a voice booming across the gravel, _"SARAH JENNINGS_!" And while the other kids began to quickly scatter, I turned towards the source of the voice, and sighed.

A whisper came from the girl standing next to me, "Oh Shit," and I looked over at her briefly.

"Oh shit is just about right."

….

Mr Roberts frogmarched us both across the parking lot and made a beeline straight for his office. He used the age-old tactic of leaving the room for the two of us to both start to sweat and then finally come to the conclusion that we should blame each other.

Thankfully, I knew of his underhanded tactics from previous sojourns to his office, and immediately turned to the mystery aggressor trembling slightly in the uncomfortable chair beside me.

"So, this is how it's going to play out; you're going to tell dickface exactly, and I mean EXACTLY what happened- I wasn't apart of this. I am so not getting suspended again within the first five minutes of walking back in these gates," I knew I was leaving the poor kid out to dry, but a second suspension as soon as I walked through the door without actually doing anything this time? Nope, not happening.

The girl seemed struck dumb- perhaps not quite sure what to say in response to my demanding spiel, but she soon snapped out of whatever ever daydream she was in.

"But, you _were_ a part of it! I mean, not really _in_ it as such, but it was all your idea!"

Okay, now this chick was one sandwich short of a picnic. I knew I hadn't been a part of whatever it was she had done, because I didn't even know her name. I wasn't a co conspirator, nor was I an accomplice; hell I wasn't even sure what grade she was in! I was going to have to play this carefully.

"Okay, number one; I have no idea what you mean that I was part of you beating that kid up, because number two; I don't even know your name. Wanna tell me what's going on?" I was plain as day curious now.

Moving around in obvious discomfort on her chair, the girl slowly turned around to face me in earnest.

"My name's Jess, and I saw you beat up Tom Swanson a few days ago- it was _awesome_! That guy in the parking lot is my best friend Dakota's boyfriend, but he's a total douchebag- he came onto me! I asked him real nice to leave me alone, but he just wouldn't and just before, he grabbed my ass! So I told him I'd hit him if he tried anything else. So he did, and I did," Jess rushed out in all one breath.

Aha, so she was some sort of admirer of mine? Wow. I internally giggled.

Didn't know I had such a fan base. But I felt kind of bad for the kid- I clearly wasn't a suitable hero for someone of such an impressionable age, as demonstrated by her behaviour this morning. Time to set her right, I think.

"Jess, it's really nice to meet you and everything, but you've inadvertently landed me in a heap of trouble. I'm really flattered that you think my kick ass skills are awesome, but just because I kicked someone, doesn't mean it's okay for everyone else to," The kid looked kind of disappointed at this statement, and it made me frown.

"Hey, you seem like a good kid- standing up to that piece of filth your friend calls a boyfriend was a good thing to do- just don't let it get physical where possible, k?" She nodded, a reprimanded bob of a guilty face, but soon the guilt was swiped off, in its place, a fully blown grin.

"I got him good though, huh?"

I grinned with her, a true attestation to my inbred feminist ideology. Finding myself now slightly more excited at the prospect of a follower, I checked out Jess' knuckles- a knee jerk reaction stemming from my martial arts lessons over the years.

Wincing, I nodded towards Jess' already bruised hand, "If you have a brother, he should've taught you how to throw a punch without hurting yourself when boys started to notice you, if you don't have a brother, you should take some karate lessons," holding out my own hands proudly, I told her matter of factly, "These babies know how to disable an unwanted attention thirty ways from Sunday, but the rest of my body can manage just about any size, make and aggression scale of male."

I chuckled, grinning at Jess' revering gaze, but the chuckle died down when I realized just how long Roberts had left us to stew in guilt. It seemed long- too long... Seemingly at that thought, I heard Roberts' trademark irate yell boom through the closed door.

Think of the devil and the devil shall be heard...

"You were a problem all throughout your schooling Mr Walker, and I don't want your sister being lead down the garden path and beating up my students! Control her!" He growled, the sound just shy of a category three hurricane.

I was also astounded to hear a loud baritone voice match Mr Roberts yell for yell, "She's a kid- she shouldn't have to defend herself! Keep a tighter hold on _your _idiot students!"

Jessica gasped beside me, her face blanching, the death grip on her chair resuming.

"I have a brother," she whispered, the fight from not twenty minutes ago completely eradicated from her voice. I wouldn't have believed that this courageous and vibrant slip of a girl could have disappeared so quickly, if I had not heard and seen it for myself. She now looked utterly terrified at her own fate and mine.

"Jessica Jane Walker, march your ass out here right now," Jess' brothers' baritone voice boomed through the walls, and silently gathering her things, face as pale as a sheet, offered me a grim smile and brief wave, trudging towards the door.

"Good luck, kid," I whispered just loud enough to catch her attention as she swung open the heavy wooden door and met her doom.

In her place about thirty seconds later stood Mr Roberts, face an even deeper shade of purple than I had caused three days ago, veins all but burst from his neck and forehead.

His voice was strained, as if trying to keep a hold of himself and not begin an episode of Tourette's aimed directly at me, "Sarah Jennings, why is it that I consistently find you at the forefront of any misdemeanours on school property? Jessica Walker is nothing like her brother, and until you came along, she was doing just dandy, which frankly I was surprised at seeing as though her brother gave me my very first grey hair and the next thirty thousand that turned the same blasted colour after it," I looked doubtfully at his thatch of grey/silver hair- surely no one boy could've caused that whole silver lining.

"You and Paul Walker are cut from the same cloth- determined to make my life a living hell!"

I considered opening my mouth to defend myself, but came to the hopeless realisation that I had been tarred with the same brush as Jess' brother, who seemed to hold a high reputation in the 'terrorise Mr Roberts' stakes.

"Solitary lessons today, Miss Jennings, but if you so much as sneeze, you are off school property faster than my next grey hair can pop up. Understood?"

Barely restraining myself from rolling my grey-blue eyes at the idiot, I nodded, kept my mouth shut and walked quickly to the door, heading straight for the day-detention classroom.

….

Our trip to school today was as uneventful as it had been for the last three years, barring the trip two days ago when I nearly got us both killed by scaring Kim to a stop to investigate the brilliant pair of golden eyes belonging to a shadow.

Emma was severely unimpressed with us when she learned of our near miss, and insisted that in future, should we feel the need to nearly get ourselves killed, we should invite her along for the ride.

I had also decided to do my best to stay out of any unforeseeable trouble for at least the next week to avoid the wrath of my mother. Of course Mr Roberts, although kind enough to not suspend me, decided to call mom and inform her of my mishap with Jessica Walker and my undue time in solitary confinement. For which of course, I was given double my usual chores for not learning my lesson and staying out of things.

My day in solitary was potentially one of the worst forms of torture a teenager could endure- I could hear all the other kids milling about between classes, yelling, laughing and generally wreaking havoc, but the only person I came in contact with for the entire day was the old librarian, who sat snoring at the desk for a majority of the time. It was a prison sentence that could rival Alcatraz, and the worst was that whilst she was a dead boring dinosaur not a day under seventy, her hearing was as sharp as a tack

So of course when we got to school today, and saw Jessica Walker, I put my head down and did my best to avoid eye contact.

To no avail however, she must've recognized me and decided to rekindle our perilous friendship.

Suddenly I looked up, and she was directly in front of me.

"Sarah, hey!" Good God- she was way too chirpy for eight am.

"Hi Jess, how're your knuckles?" I replied, glancing down at hers lightly bruised hands.

She grinned widely, "Great! Well- not so great, but it was worth it! Except for the part where my brother chewed me out…"

I chuckled with Jess, her enthusiasm was infectious, and her grin lit up the dreary traffic of sullen and sleepy teenagers milling about the carpark.

"Hey, so I was wondering," Oh here we go, "So you said that I should take some karate lessons if my brother wouldn't teach me to throw a punch…so I was wondering, do you know of any places seeing as you seem to know everything about y'know, like, self defence and stuff?" She peered at me in earnest, suddenly going a little shy on me.

I've got to admit, I was a little surprised. I didn't think she'd be interested enough or bothered to follow up on something like this. Most teens would have their five minutes in the ring, and then get the hell out. However, Jess honestly seemed to be interested in being able to defend herself, and I found myself nodding eagerly.

"Yep- come for lessons same place I do," I smiled enthusiastically. It would be nice to have another girl join the team- we were always on the lookout for more. However, Jess' eyes went wide as saucers, and I thought she might just pass out, but she recovered quickly and rummaged through her bag, finally producing a pen and scrap paper and asked me to write down the details for her.

"We train tonight, so you should come and try it out, you know, see if you like it and stuff and then if you really think you could do it, sign up and we'll get you kitted out with a uniform and everything."

A small squeal erupted and before I could comprehend what she was doing, she had her arms tight around my middle in a huge hug. She was a good kid, and while I awkwardly patted her back a few times in a similar gesture, I cleared my throat after about thirty seconds of non-stop hug-fest to indicate my discomfort. She stepped back quickly.

"Sorry," She giggled out, "Thanks so much for this Sarah, it means a lot," and she skipped off to re-join a big group of co-eds who proceeded to heed the warning bell and floated through the doors into school.

Emma and Kim, who had wandered off whilst I was chatting with my admirer, suddenly re-appeared.

"So, Sass, got yourself a teeny bopper new bestie?" Emma was so cynically rude sometimes.

"Hey! She's just a kid, and I think its high time girls took over their own defences. She's probably left it up to a big brother to watch over her and kick other people's asses for her for years. Good on her for being confident and willing to have a go!"

Emma winced, clearly realising it was too early in the morning for lectures, and therefore provocation that lead to them, "Alright, alright, shit, I don't deal with big words this time of morning. Let's go."

As the three of us headed towards the school doors, Kim looked reproachfully at me, "Sass, just don't go too hard on her- another broken bone on your record will not look good for college applications."

Emma and I glanced at each other, and chorused, "Yes, mom," while Kim, looking scandalised, smacked us both upside the heads and tore off, Emma and I screaming blue murder as we sprinted after her.

….

Man, I could smack her from here to kingdom come.

It was one thing for me as a known screw up to get in trouble whilst at school, but Jess was actually going somewhere. Not that I'd ever admit it to her, but she was a seriously smart kid. She was taking accelerated classes for maths, science and English, and always got awarded smart people awards from school.

The fact that she was actually able to geographically go somewhere after school also helped. I mean, I was stuck protecting La Push- it was my fate and I didn't mind so much. I never had any ambitions to head off to a fancy East Coast college.

Jess though, I was sure she'd end up at a school with fancy stone archways, gourmet coffee carts right outside the dorms, loads of smartass international students and teachers with a 'Doctor' or 'Professor' in front of their names. She was a smart kid and I wasn't about to let anything stop her from attaining a better future than mine.

Frustratedly untying the hastily tied clothing from my leg, I shrugged on a t-shirt and denim cut-offs and kept striding towards the school gates. I wasn't a legal guardian, but with mom working nights at the hospital as she usually does mid-week, I was the only one coherent enough to come and collect Jess from school, banned for the day for fighting.

Taking a deep, measured breath, I inwardly counted the steps towards the approaching gates. Losing my temper and becoming wolf-boy would not go down well in my old enemy's office.

Mr Roberts had called wanting to speak to mom, but instead, barely managed to contain his uncivil tongue to let me know my sister needed to be picked up. At first I couldn't believe him, but after a few choice words thrown at each other, I conceded defeat and got outdoors ASAP to avoid splintering furniture and walls.

A wave of nostalgia rushed through me as I strolled through the halls, the familiar scent of over- baked carrots and broccoli wafting from the cafeteria, the familiar blue of the beaten up lockers lining the walls and suddenly the sound of Mr Roberts' irate bellow shaking the walls as some poor kid copped it. It was all so familiar- even though my footsteps had not graced these halls for three years.

Following my instincts, and the sound of Roberts' voice berating a kid, I headed towards the staff offices. I was unsurprised to see the old receptionist stuffing her face with peanut butter M&M's, eyes going wide and nearly choking as I gave her a bold wink before strolling straight through the entryway to Mr Roberts' reception area.

The familiar sight of a purple faced Mr Roberts standing over a cowering student made me feel like I was home, and he turned at my shadow, suddenly looming over him.

"Well, well, well. Mr Walker. Three years and you still have that disrespectfully insolent smirk on your face," he sneered, clearly to the hopes of the cowering kid completely ignoring him, and turning his mind back to my troubled youth.

"Why Mr Roberts, is that a brown hair I see? I thought after I left that they might've grown back the right colour, but maybe you're just old…?" I couldn't help but rise to the challenge of taunting him, despite the fact that I was here to collect a misbehaving relative.

He blustered, and quickly turned to the kid, telling him to leave and get back to class. Colour slowly dissipating, surprisingly, he managed to collect himself before turning back to me with a gleeful look in his eye.

"The bad apples always return. But alas, not for the reasons I always envisioned; your sister beat one of the other students up today. I can assure you that whilst such behaviour was clearly inherent to your Neanderthal ways as a teenager, your younger sibling has never been an issue for me until now. As it's her first offence, I won't be suspending her, but you will need to take her home for the rest of the-" I stopped him right there, in utter disbelief.

"_My_ sister? The fifteen year old model student? You can hardly expect me to believe-"

"Mr Walker you best not be calling me a liar. Clearly you need to chat with Jessica and have her regale you with her story, I believe it was an issue with a best friend's boyfriend, something about him touching her. I shall be talking with the boy, _after_ he returns from the hospital with a broken nose, mind you."

"He touched her? How?" I could sense this conversation going southwards if we continued much further, which was potentially dangerous and directly against Sam's word.

Roberts' babbled on, but I was barely listening, more concerned with finding Jess and then having her point out the boy so I could finish the job. His life or lack thereof, not near my conscience.

"Mr Walker, are you even listening? This is an exact replica of three years ago! You were a problem all throughout your schooling, and I don't want your sister being lead down the garden path and beating up my students! Control her!" He growled, and unfortunately despite my deep breathing, I just about lost it.

I began to roar, "She's a kid- she shouldn't have to defend herself! Keep a tighter hold on _your _idiot students!" Fists clenched at my side, with my super hearing, I heard Jess' gasp from the next room.

"Jessica Jane Walker, march your ass out here right now," my voice boomed through the walls and I saw Jess trudge through the door, looking suitably reprimanded, and casting a menacing glare at Mr Roberts, grabbed Jess by the scruff of the neck and marched her straight out of the office, silently through the incredibly loud hallways, and not daring to utter a word until we reached Jared's waiting car.

I opened the back seat and growled, "Get in the damn car."

She meekly acquiesced, I slammed the door behind her, and sending Jared a knowing glance, instead of getting in the car myself, started sprinting towards to edge of the forest, shedding my shirt as I went, finally hitting the thick brush and allowing the rage to override my senses, converting my human form to a giant, golden eyed wolf.


End file.
